Description
Cloud — The film’s protagonist built his business on reselling goods online. But shady business practices led to competitors and angry customers hunting him down.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa — A cult director, the true godfather of modern Japanese horror and psychological thriller. His cult status in world cinema is unshakable.
Unlike most American mainstream films, Kurosawa scares with atmosphere. His main trick — existential horror. He shows how something inexplicable and sinister seeps into ordinary, gray everyday life. In his films, it’s not scary because someone jumps out from behind a corner, but from the feeling of emptiness and loneliness.
Kurosawa is a favorite of major film festivals. He has awards and nominations from Cannes for films like Pulse (I haven’t seen it, but I like the American remake), Tokyo Sonata, Journey to the Shore, and the Silver Lion at Venice for Wife of a Spy.
After experimenting with dramas, fantasy, and sci-fi, in Cloud Kurosawa returned to what he does best: showing how ordinary online trading can turn into a real nightmare, and digital hatred — materialize into real violence.
Cloud was Japan’s official submission for the 97th Academy Awards 2025 in the category “Best International Feature Film”.